Spring Showers was a unicorn, until, charmed by dark magic, she sprouted black wings and was exiled to the Ever-Free Forest for it. Alone, she sets off to undo the dark magic charm, and coming to terms with her deepest conflicts.
Spring Showers was a unicorn, until, charmed by dark magic, she sprouted black wings and was exiled to the Everfree Forest for it. Alone, she sets off to undo the dark magic charm, and coming to terms with her deepest conflicts.
"Goodbye honey, please don't ever come back." She assured me like she was speaking to a child. I wouldn't want to come back to the likes of her. It makes me sick to know we're related. I stiffen up and remind her,
"Don't ever follow me mother, good riddance."
There's a glint of something in her eye. Maybe hope? Longing? Probably happiness.
"Spring, I want you to know something before you leave, I've always had a huge crush on you." He mumbles, his forehead wrinkles up, embarrassed and slightly nervous. It's nice to know that now that I'm leaving forever, very useful...heartless.
"Go be with a pony who isn't a freak of nature."
His eyes widen with shock and hurt like he didn't expect that, idiot.
Everyone just stares, no waves, no hugs, no tears. Just awkward silence.
"I will come back, and you'll all be sorry!" I state, ignoring how pitiful I sound, turning away with nothing but my saddlebag on my back, and trotting away into the forest.
As I storm away in a huff I start to violently dig my hooves into the dry, cracked earth. I stare down at the ground, to ensure my strikes are precise and deep. With each step I imagine what I'd be doing now if I hadn't been exiled.
I'm imagining my daily errands, going to work, crushing on Him. I physically cringe when I imagine all the times I thought of Him as my soulmate. If only I could see myself now, betrayed by my "soulmate" and everyone else in this godforsaken village. I can see the ponies now, all agreed on the fact that I should be punished, but how? Exile, abandon her in the Ever-Free Forest, she's a monster and it's all her fault.
My vision becomes blurry as I feel a tear slipping out of my eye socket. I instinctively wipe it away, feeling the silky softness of feathers instead of my own hoof. Disgusted, I flinch, infuriated at myself for adapting so quickly to my new wings. I told myself I would never use them, not even something as mundane as drying my eyes.
It's amazing how soft a wing so diabolical looking can be. I guess soft deep blue like it should be or jet black with blood red tips like it is, feels just as comforting. I manage to maneuver it back to it's resting position, which feels oddly akin to having an extra leg growing out of my back. I'll have to work on my wing-eye coordination if I want to even control it.
I see the sun beginning to set as I near the edge of the Ever-Free Forest, my horn begins to light up, I'd need the light if I wanted to survive in the Ever-Free Forest all night. With as much glow as I could muster, I step into the pitch black abyss.
Thick, green trees spring up around me, blocking out the sun and stars. It no longer looks nor feels like sunset. My horn glows still, strange, that's a new record. I feel myself becoming heavy with sleep, it must be the sudden change in lighting.
There's a tall, fat tree laying at the side of the "path". I lay down, bracing my back against it's hard, bumpy bark, and try to fall asleep. A cold breeze dashes through the forest, nipping at my coat. Even so, I refuse to sleep in the comfort of my feathery wing.
...
I could see myself from where I stood. My body slumps clumsily upon the looming tree, it twitches and turns in discomfort. Inky black shadows loom closer towards my circle of dim light. As the last of the light fades, the shadows scurry over me like rats over prey. My indigo coat darkens to a shade of black to match my wings, my mane and tail followed suit. It was too painful to watch, I collapse on the ground and hope for the dirt to comfort me.
Ever since I could remember, being close to the ground had always radiated a sense of comfort, mother had told me it was unnatural that I, a unicorn, would feel an earth pony-like connection to the earth.
The dirt did nothing to comfort me, it radiated a feeling of regret. Regret for walking into this place no doubt. I got up quickly as my wings began to dig into my back.
I stared down at my hooves, they retained their same blue hue. Only my tainted counterpart was afflicted. She remained in her peaceful slumber, drooling slightly, as preparing a nasty bed mane for herself in the morning. My ears, horn, and tail had been tipped with the same blood red as my wing. My cutie mark looked strange, I had to go in for a closer look.
I shuffled through the regretful dirt with my hooves in my ears. As if I used my ears to listen to the earth. I lightly tap my napping self. My vision begins to distort, I can't see anything clearly anymore.
...
Dazed, I lift my head to see dim light filtering in through the canopy of leaves. My coat is no longer black or red, only my wings.
I lower my gaze from the sky to see a dark figure, it's a colt's shadow, barely a yearling. The shadow has its own pitch black eyes and looks sort of flitting, like touching it would result in a ripple affect as if I'd touched a pond.
"Agh! Stay away!" I scream.
He has a look of hope in those pitch black pools. "Woah, you have wings and a horn."
"Ugh, don't remind me. What's your name, kid, are you lost?" I ask, though if he is, I'd hardly like to see where a colt like that came from.
"I'm Koda, where did you get those wings? They're so pretty."
"I don't actually know." I reply in a mumble.
"Do they work?"
"I've never tried them, and I'm not going to." I assert.
He helps me up, his hooves are strangely solid, yet cold.
"Open up your wings, I want to see them." He commands, quite rudely.
"Leave me alone, I don't have to do what you say." I huff and turn away.
"OPEN YOUR WINGS, I WANT TO SEE THEM!" He wails, I think he might be...crying. I must have forgotten how stubborn little colts are.
"Shut up and quit crying like a little cry-foal!" I put my hoof on his back in an effort to calm him down. The tears streaming down his face have increased.
"Not until you show me the wings!" He stutters in between gulps of air.
I roll my eyes and wrestle my wings out of their resting position and into the air, which is tough considering they are definitely asleep. "There, happy?"
He stops crying instantly and begins to gawks at my abnormal wings."They look familiar..." He whispers.
"You've seen this before?" I ask, trying not to sound desperate.
"Mmhmm, in the garden, its amazing!" He raises his fore hooves in the air for emphasis.
"Can you take me there?" I request. This "garden" could be the only answer I have, and I'm not even sure if I can trust the little brat. I am in the EverFree after all.
"Okay! But only if you listen to me the whole time." He acts like this is a game. Before I can say anything, he trots off, zigzagging across my path and orbiting around me.
...
Koda's quieted down and started at a steady pace in front of me. "So...how did you get those pretty wings?" He asks, probably bored, after all it has been a whole 10 minutes
I remember that day, only a couple days ago. A pain akin to what I felt then is starting to seethe in my stomach. It felt like I was being eaten from the inside. The worst of it came when my back started to throb, like whatever creature had been plaguing me suddenly wanted out, now.
"Imagine what it felt like to have your foal teeth brake out of your gums, but with a tooth the size of a wing, times two." I answer, hoping he won't ask anymore questions.
"Eww..." He replies, mission accomplished
...
Koda stops abruptly at a clearing, I almost bump into him. He grabs me by the hoof and yanks me into a grassy clearing. The sun is shining as bright as afternoon.
"Is this it?" I say, annoyed at the sudden contact. I still can't touch him without shuddering, poor kid.
"No, it's over there." He gestures at a shaded hole in the dirt. I reluctantly leave the grassy clearing. It felt good to feel something other than despair radiating from the barren earth.
Koda is already far ahead of me, regaining the energy he had when we first started this journey. I pick up speed and bound towards the shady grove, remembering that this could be the answer to my problems. I bend my wings at half way to keep them from slowing me down.
I don't think I've ever been underground before, save the basement of my house. It's absolutely torturous, fear, panic, and worry pound themselves into my skull like a nail through a coffin. Strongest of them all is insanity, it's giving me a pulsing head ache. I can hear Koda's laughter, it's not much deeper but it feels like a mile.
I come out to find a small underground garden, it has lush, long grass, colorful flowers and sunlight streaming in from some holes in the ceiling. The most striking thing about the place though, are the life-sized wooden statues.
There are about six statues, each one is painted black and red. Some are unicorns, some pegasi, some earth ponies, even some alicorns, like me, I guess.
It feels strange to call myself an alicorn, alicorns are perfect, powerful, and beautiful. I'm an alicorn gone horribly wrong.
The last one is just a chunk of wood. It looks like it's been carved out into the basic shape of a pony, but it lacks details and looks too unfinished to be recognizable. However, the one right next to the mystery pony, I recognize.
It's a statue of King Sombra, looking the way he used to look. His armor is gleaming black and his horn shares the same color scheme as my wing. The eyes look the most realistic, they gleam purple with life-like rage.
"I like that one best." Koda sneaks up behind me, I shiver with surprise "His horn is so cool-looking, and that armor, cape, and crown set him far apart from the rest of the statues."
I pause for a moment and stare at him, "...Koda, you're so strange."
He looks even more confused, but only for a second."Now what? Are you satisfied?"
"Huh?" I remember what I came here for. "Oh yeah." I look around the statue, nothing that could possibly tell me what is going on, though I now know there were others like me, they were carved into wood for some reason, and one of them was Sombra.
Sombra...he's the one I know most about. I mentally run over everything I know about him...grew up in the Crystal Kingdom. He tried to take over Canterlot. He was beaten. He ran off to the Everfree forest! That's it!
"Do you recognize that one?" I tap on the wood with my hoof, making a hollow sound like drums. My hoof looks sharper than it used to, I used to know fillies who would file them all day to make them sharper. They would kill for these.
"No." He states plainly.
"He came here about 100 or so years ago." I inform him. My eyeballs roll back into my head, revealing only the whites. It's a bad habit I have when I'm trying to remember something. "Don't you have history books here?"
Speaking of that, there's something that's been plaguing me since I met him "Who takes care of you?" I ask, hoping it isn't something like a chimera or manticore.
"The trees" he replies innocently
"Eh?" I grunt.
"I sleep in the trees, the trees whisper stories and comforting words into my ears. They remind me of my name when I almost forget it." His eyes glaze over, staring off into space while his coat dulls to a tired, dark gray.
I wave my hoof in front of his face, no reaction. I grab his chin lightly and turn it up to me, something I've seen many parents do when they wanted a little colt's attention. "So...no history books?"
"You do know books are made of trees, right?" He stifles a giggle.
"I'm serious!" I wave my hooves in exasperation and once again punch Sombra in the chest. The same "bonk" reverberates throughout the room.
"Calm down, Spring, jeez." Koda mutters.
"Sorry, Koda, but I've been kinda upset the past few days, and you treat it like a game!" I say, sounding far from calm.
Koda is silent. Then he mumbles a "S-sorry." He looks part shocked and part downcast. I hope he isn't going to cry again.
"Um...forgiven." I say, trying defuse the incoming fit of tears.
He relaxes and leans on the statue."So what now?" He asks.
I knit my eyebrows in thought, Koda watches in fascination. Then it hits me.